This invention relates to a novel foam packing peanut providing enhanced packing and the extruded plastic pellet from which the packing peanut is formed. The invention also relates to a method for making the foam packing peanut and the plastic pellets from which it is formed.
Lightweight low density materials have commonly been used as packing materials. Such materials commonly include foamed plastics, wood, and paperboard. Such materials are commonly utilized in the form of small, discrete bodies for reasons of handling, convenience, even distribution, and enhanced cushioning.
A problem with presently available packing peanuts is that they pack too densely requiring that relatively large numbers of them be utilized to occlude a given volume. It would be desirable to have a packing peanut having a shape which packs less densely.
One way of decreasing packing density is to use foam peanuts which are curled or discontinuous in shape along their axis of extrusion or longitudinal extension. Such foam peanuts are seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,251,728; 3,829,269; and 4,073,842. The drawback in using such foam peanuts is that they are difficult to manufacture. The relatively small, foamable plastic pellets from which they are expanded have a tendency to relax and lose the desired curled or discontinuous shape during processing of the pellets.
It would be desirable to have an expandable or foamable plastic pellets which are discontinuous in shape along their axis of extrusion or longitudinal extension, and would maintain their shape during the processing and expansion.